Grenadier

Grenadier 

So little is known about the materials that make up our world. The things that are known, however, we know well. We know for example that the four humors - blood, phlegm, black bile, and yellow bile - are what animate us after we have been created. These are the things that we have learned to adjust to cure certain maladies such as vomiting out a cold or bloodletting and leeching to cure maladies of the mind such as melancholia and lunacy. If we only knew all else so well. 

You have spent much time trying to make things better. Better soap, better compounds to use to launder clothes, make hair grow, remove blemishes on the skin. All you've seemed to be able to do is make compounds that kill. Or that make people sick. Even things that paralyze. Maybe, after all, this is your calling. Harm rather than help.

Through experimentation you've found that some of these compounds are safe until exposed to air, or water, and you've come up with an ingenious concept. Your uncle, the glassblower, has helped you create balls of glass that divide the elements intended for a compound. If you break the balls, mixing the elements within with air or water, they then become a compound which makes a toxic gas. 

It's taken some tinkering. If the balls are too fragile, they break before the intended time. And if the glass of the balls is too thick, it's too hard to break them when desired. There's a balance as in all things. There are only a few effective grenades you've been able to make so far and they've  been fairly mild- a laughing gas producing fits of laughter that make a person fall down, and a gas that produces a thick veil of fog. Your Hellebore Grenade should prove pretty handy, but just as well your bag of tricks is small for now because you need to learn better to implement these grenades in battle. Then you can sell them to the King to use in his wars, making you wealthy beyond your wildest dreams. 

It feels good to have a goal. You just need to get out in the field and get these things designed and working properly. You could use a little adventure at any rate, and what better way to fund your experiments? As a Grenadier, it's a dream come true - using your tools to get the gold to make better tools to get more gold to ... well, you get the picture. 

The road to excitement and wealth beyond imagining awaits. Let's see what Fate holds in store for you. Will she be cruel or gentle? May the gods choose the latter. 

Bonus Proficiencies

3rd-level Grenadier feature 

At 3rd level, you gain twice proficiency with alchemist's supplies, and proficiency with glassblower's tools. You also gain twice proficiency with your Intelligence (Nature) skill and proficiency with your Intelligence (Investigation), and Intelligence (Arcana) skills.

Gas (Spell) Grenades

3rd-level Grenadier feature

You have bandoliers of glass grenades in protective, lacquered leather sheathes across your chest. These grenades mimic the effect of the spells listed through chemistry and some magic. For example, a Hold Person grenade induces paralysis by making an aerosol of ghoul's saliva, and a Phantasmal Killer grenade is a powerful hallucinogenic compound taken from a rare toad's mucus.

Note: These grenades do not replace your normal spellcasting ability, nor do they affect your spell slots or known spells. It should further be noted that any ally within the area of effect of one of your grenades is subject to the same saving throws and damage as is an enemy. 

You can carry up to 12 grenades at a time. It's up to you what type and quantity of each type you carry. The throwing of the grenades replaces the range of the spell listed, and all saving throws are Constitution rather than the saving throw listed for the spell except those requiring a Dexterity save.

A grenade may be thrown 30 + 15*Strength modifier feet . The drawing and throwing of a grenade counts as an action and a bonus action.

Each 1st level grenade costs 25 gp to manufacture. For a 2nd level grenade it costs 50 gp, 3rd costs 100 gp, 4th costs 200 gp, and 5th costs 500 gp. It is taken for granted that you have the materials to make these grenades on your person, but you may only keep twelve empty glass grenade replacements on you at any time. If you have a pack animal or a Bag of Holding, this limit is waived, but you must eventually return to a home base where you can make more or gain access to a glassblower's supplies. It takes half an hour to produce one grenade. So during a typical long rest, you may produce no more than 16 or you are limited by the quantity of empties on hand.

With grenades, any spell limited to one individual target now has an area of effect of 10 feet in a radius around the area of impact and the spell's normal statistics are replaced by those for a thrown grenade. For example, your Grenadier has a Strength score of 13, a +1 Strength modifier, if they throw a Hold Person grenade, it can be thrown up to 45 feet (30 + 15*Strength modifier) negating the 60 foot range listed for the spell. The saving throw becomes Constitution rather than Wisdom for this spell, and it affects any creature within 10 feet of impact that fails the saving throw. 

When you throw a grenade, it hits close to its intended target automatically, but you still must make an attack roll. On a roll of a natural 1-5 the grenade does not break and there is no effect. If still in an accessible spot after a battle, it may be retrieved and used again. On a natural roll of 6 or 7, there is a small crack in the glass that doesn't release gas quickly enough to have effect but is too dangerous to retrieve for later use. It is a loss. On a roll of 8-10, the grenade goes 5 feet wide, short, or long of its intended target. Roll a d4 - a roll of 1 indicates a long throw, 2 is wide right, 3 is short, and 4 is wide left. In any of these instances, the intended target is still within the area of effect.

Note: You can create custom inventory entries on your D&D Beyond character sheet to better keep track of what grenades you have prepared and in your bandoliers. Or, you may keep track with pen and paper or similar means.

Gas Grenades

Artificer Level	grenade
3rd	Fog Cloud, Hideous Laughter
5th	Hold Person, Pyrotechnics
7th	Fear, Stinking Cloud
11th	Blight, Phantasmal Killer
15th	Cloudkill, Immolation

Hellebore Grenade

3rd-level Grenadier feature 

You can make hellebore gas grenades that cost 100 gp to manufacture. They do 3d6 poison damage on a failed Constitution saving throw or half as much damage on a successful save to any creature in a 10 foot radius of impact. This damage becomes 4d6 at 7th level, 5d6 at 11th level, 6d6 at 15th, and 7d6 at 19th. 

Note: Special grenades such as this one are kept in sealed, protective pouches on a custom belt holster you've designed. You may have up to 8 grenades on this belt at a time. They are of a different shape and composition than your bandolier grenades and cannot be interchanged. 

Chemical Savant

5th-level Grenadier feature

You add your Intelligence modifier to any damage inflicted by one of your grenades. If there is no damage associated with the grenade, you may double the duration of the grenade's effects or increase the area of effect by a radius of an additional 10 feet.

Additionally your time spent experimenting with chemicals and poisons has made you resistant to both acid and poison damage, and you can cast the Lesser Restoration and Cure Wounds spells a number of times equal to your Intelligence modifier per long rest.

Sticky Fire Grenade

5th-level Grenadier feature 

You have created grenades that explode into a flaming tar-like substance that is very difficult to put out. Any creatures struck by one suffer 3d8 fire damage in the first round, 2d8 fire damage in the second round, and 1d8 fire damage in the third round unless doused with natural or magical water. The fire burns out after three rounds. While on fire, the creatures attack, make saving throws, and make ability checks at disadvantage. If the creatures make a Dexterity saving throw, the damage dice are reduced to d4s rather than d8s. These grenades cost 250 gp to manufacture and go in your grenade belt holster.

The damage inflicted by these grenades doubles (*2) at level 11 and trebles (*3) at level 17.

Quality Control

9th-level Grenadier feature 

You have learned better glassblowing technique and now have twice proficiency with glassblower's tools. This means that your grenades now don't break open on natural rolls of 1-3 or crack so they're unusable on a natural roll of 4. A roll of 4 indicates a throw 5 feet off its mark. 

Paralysis Grenade

9th-level Grenadier feature

You have learned to manufacture grenades that cause paralysis for one minute in any creature within the grenade's area of effect that fails a Constitution saving throw with a DC of 17. These grenades cost 500 gp each to manufacture and go in your belt holster.

Chemical Mastery

15th-level Grenadier feature

You add twice your Intelligence modifier to any damage inflicted by one of your grenades. If there is no damage associated with the grenade, you may treble the duration of the grenade's effects or increase the area of effect by a radius of an additional 20 feet.

Additionally your time spent experimenting with chemicals and poisons has made you immune to acid damage, poison damage, and the poisoned condition, and you can cast the Greater Restoration and Heal spells a number of times equal to your Intelligence modifier per long rest.

Flash-Bang Grenade

15th-level Grenadier feature 

You have learned the skills necessary to create a grenade of devastating effect - the Flash-Bang Grenade. The weapon does 5d10 radiant damage and 5d10 thunder damage to creatures within its area of effect. A DC 19 Dexterity saving throw halves the damage. Undead take double radiant damage and constructs take double thunder damage. The Flash-Bang Grenade costs 1,000 gp each to manufacture.